What you need to know:

• A Matanuska-Susitna Borough election law update to Mat-Su election law expands the number of poll watchers allowed at each precinct. The update also gives election officials the authority to remove disruptive poll watchers from precincts and reaffirms a borough law requiring ballots to be counted by hand.
• Previously, borough election rules limited poll watching to individuals affiliated with candidates or state-registered ballot proposition groups.
• The borough’s next election is scheduled for November.

PALMER – An update to Mat-Su election law approved by the Borough Assembly this week expands the number of poll watchers allowed at each precinct while giving election officials new authority to remove disruptive observers.

The change allows state-registered political parties to send one poll watcher to each of the region's 40 precincts or early voting sites during Matanuska-Susitna Borough elections. It also allows one member of the public to serve as a poll watcher at each site.

The update also reaffirms that borough ballots must be hand-counted by changing references to "tabulation" and "tabulating" in portions of the borough election code to "hand counted" or "hand count."

A 2022 Mat-Su law requires all borough votes to be counted by hand. A measure approved in January also prohibits the clerk from using any electronic assistance, including paper-counting machines that tally the total number of ballots submitted but do not tabulate votes.

The measure was approved unanimously during an Assembly meeting Tuesday. It was sponsored by Assembly member Dmitri Fonov, whose district includes portions of Palmer and Wasilla.

Poll watchers in Mat-Su may observe precinct activities, election officials, and ballot counting, according to borough law. They may also inspect voting booths for discarded campaign materials. They may not handle official materials or interfere with the election process, the code states. They must also register with the borough clerk before the election, officials said.

Borough law previously limited poll watchers to individuals representing candidates or ballot proposition groups registered with the state.

Tuesday's update could add about five additional observers per precinct if each registered party and a member of the public seek to participate.

Turnout among poll watchers is typically low, Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie told the Assembly last month. While three poll watchers registered for last year's election, none ultimately participated, she said. In 2022, about 25 people registered through candidates, she said.

“We do get phone calls occasionally asking to be a poll watcher, and they don’t realize the rules are you have to be with the candidate or an organized group,” she said. “But once we open it up, maybe it will get busier.”

The addition of party-affiliated poll watchers is the second recent change injecting partisan politics into borough elections.

An update early last year allowed candidates for borough mayor, assembly and school board to appear on the ballot with a political party affiliation, a first for local governments in the state.

Mat-Su elections remain "nonpartisan" under the borough code because they do not include closed primaries, officials said.

The measure approved Tuesday also allows a pair of precinct officials to require a poll watcher to leave if they touch election materials or disrupt the process, including through campaigning or trying to influence voters.

If necessary, election officials can call the police to enforce the rules, Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos told the Assembly during Tuesday's meeting.

"If a person refuses to leave after being given a lawful order to leave, you can call the police," he said.

The ordinance also increases the word limit for candidate statements in the official voter guide from 100 to 200 and gives technical updates to some vote-counting procedures.

The next Mat-Su Borough election is scheduled for November.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com